How did Chavis Carter shoot himself in the head while he was handcuffed in the back of a police car? That is the question investigators must answer after the 21-year-old was killed while being detained by the police. The story reeks of a cover-up.

Chavis was a passenger in a truck that had been pulled over in Jonesboro, Arkansas. After police reportedly found marijuana in the truck, they pulled Chavis out, searched him, handcuffed him with his hands behind his back and placed him in the back of the car. When his name was run through the system, a warrant out of Mississippi was revealed. That part all sounds on the up and up and is pretty standard procedure.

However, what happened next blows their story out of the water. As police went about their investigation, they say they heard a thump. When the two officers on the scene returned to the car, they claim Chavis was “slumped forward,” in the back seat. His hands were still handcuffed behind his back. Somehow, according to the officers’ story, Chavis managed to pull out a small-caliber gun and shoot himself in the head.

How did an officer miss a gun during the search? Sergeant Lyle Waterworth offers an excuse for how Chavis got his hands on a gun, while in the car, “Any given officer has missed something on a search, you know, be it drugs, be it knives, be it razor blades.”

Secondly, how does a man with his hands cuffed behind his back raise a gun and shoot himself? Teresa Carter, Chavis’s mother has her own theory, “I think they killed him…My son wasn’t suicidal.” Teresa also reveals her son was left-handed. He was shot in the right temple. Just before being taken into custody, Chavis called his girlfriend and told her he would call her from the jail. He clearly was planning on getting out.

Both of the officers involved have been placed on administrative leave while the incident is investigated. Will there be justice for Chavis Carter or will the investigators decide the young man was a modern-day Houdini and managed to shoot himself.